This iPhone case has police in a panic

IT’S a novelty phone case, but it is actually no joke. And police claim the people who make it have blood on their hands.

IT’S the novelty phone case that is no joke.

Police in the US have blasted this plastic iPhone accessory they say is an accident waiting to happen. And in the trigger happy States, you can see their point.

Law enforcers in New York are taking the sale of the phone cases so seriously, they have issued a warning against their sale, branding them a “death trap”.

The case is for sale on Japan Trend Shop website, home to all manner of weird and wacky inventions, including “face slimmers”, upside-down laptop desks and beer slushie makers.

“More a piece of equipment than a regular “cover,” the Gun Grip Case transforms your iPhone 5 into a handgun!”, the site exclaims, adding it also comes with a fun app.

“The app means you can play games of Russian roulette at parties! Don’t worry, you can’t actually shoot anyone!”

But police and anti-gun advocates worry it could easily be mistaken for the real thing.

“Don’t worry, you can’t actually shoot anyone!” the online listing reads.

“The money that is earned from the sale of this case is blood money earned from the blood of the person who is foolish enough to carry it,” police union president Patrick Lynch told the media.

“[They endanger] both the lives of those who carry it and the police officers whose job it is to rid the street of illegal guns.”

One former cop told the New York Daily Newssaid the cases were “the stupidest, most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen.”

Tony Herbert a community activist in Brooklyn, will petition for the cases to be banned from sale in New York.

“If I were a cop and it was dark and I saw this (case) on a person, my first thought would be to pull my gun and defuse the threat,” Mr Herbert told a press conference.

Originally published as This iPhone case has police in a panic